VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0 marks a pivotal evolution in private cloud infrastructure, delivering a unified, secure, and scalable platform designed to meet the demands of modern applications, AI workloads, and multi-cloud operations. With a complete architectural overhaul, VCF 9.0 introduces a host of innovations that simplify operations, enhance performance, and strengthen security—while enabling organizations to modernize infrastructure and accelerate digital transformation.
A Unified Platform for Modern and Traditional Workloads
At its core, VCF 9.0 consolidates VMware’s trusted technologies—vSphere, vSAN, NSX, and Aria—into a single, integrated platform. This unification enables seamless deployment and management of both virtual machines and Kubernetes containers, making it ideal for organizations running hybrid workloads. Whether deploying traditional enterprise applications or AI-driven services, VCF 9.0 provides the flexibility and performance needed to support diverse use cases.
The platform is designed for deployment across a wide range of environments, including on-premises data centers, public clouds, sovereign clouds, edge locations, and telco infrastructures. This extensibility is further enhanced by license portability, allowing customers to extend entitlements across environments without additional complexity.
Key Innovations in VCF 9.0
1. Modernized Operations Console and Installer
VCF 9.0 introduces a completely redesigned Operations Console and Installer, streamlining deployment and lifecycle management. The new installer automates full-stack provisioning, from hardware validation to management domain setup, reducing errors and accelerating time-to-value. The Operations Console centralizes visibility into health, capacity, compliance, and performance, enabling proactive management and faster troubleshooting.
The VCF installer can be used to either deploy a new VCF instance or upgrade an existing instance of vSphere. Additionally, customers can choose during deployment whether they would like to import existing components like NSX, Operations, and Automation if they already have them. If not, they will be deployed as part of the installer.
Figure 1: The new VCF Installer simplifies the process of installing multiple components for greenfield and upgrade deployments
Following use of the VCF installer, customers will be greeted with a new-ish console in the form of VCF Operations. I say new-ish because VCF Operations is the latest iteration of what was formerly called Aria Operations. The console has the same familiar functionality such as capacity management, what-if scenarios, and cost management. But with 9.0, VCF Operations is also the central point of management for the entire VCF fleet of hosts and SDDC components. Tasks such as infrastructure lifecycle, password management, certificate renewal, and centralized identity management are all handled within VCF Operations.
2. Advanced Memory and Storage Efficiency
Broadcom has made a number of claims regarding the performance and efficiency benefits of VCF 9.0:
– 38% Lower Server TCO through NVMe-based memory tiering.
– 34% Lower Storage TCO with vSAN ESA and global deduplication.
– 3x Switching Performance via NSX Enhanced Data Path.
– ~1% Virtualization Overhead for AI workloads.
– Sub-2s vMotion for AI enables live migration of GPU-backed VMs with minimal disruption.
While many of these efficiencies are the next evolution of existing features, global deduplication is a new feature of vSAN ESA for VCF 9.0. Unlike deduplication in the previous OSA architecture, which was limited to deduplicating data in a single disk group on a single host, deduplication in ESA is global across all hosts in a vSAN cluster.
3. Self-Service and Automation at Scale
Through VCF Automation, VCF 9.0 empowers both cloud admins and consumers with a self-service, cloud-like experience:
– Self-Service Catalogs and Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC).
– Kubernetes-as-a-Service embedded directly into vSphere.
– Native Multi-Tenancy with role-based access and delegated controls.
– Chargeback and Showback features for financial transparency.
4. Security and Compliance Modernization
Security is foundational in VCF 9.0, with enhancements across every layer:
– Confidential Computing encrypts VM memory.
– Security Operations Dashboard for real-time visibility.
– Configuration Compliance Monitoring for consistent posture.
– Unified Certificate and Identity Management.
– vSAN-to-vSAN Deep Snapshots for native, crash-consistent replication.
Use Cases: Real-World Applications of VCF 9.0
VCF 9.0 supports a wide range of enterprise use cases, including:
– Application Modernization: Run Kubernetes and AI workloads alongside traditional VMs.
– Infrastructure Modernization: Replace legacy architectures with scalable, software-defined infrastructure.
– Security Modernization: Protect against ransomware and ensure compliance.
– Edge and Telco Deployments: Extend cloud services to remote locations.
– Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity: Leverage VMware Live Recovery and integrated backup tools.
Conclusion: A Platform Built for the Future
VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 is more than just an upgrade—it’s a strategic platform for the AI-driven, multi-cloud enterprise. By unifying infrastructure management, enhancing performance, and embedding security, VCF 9.0 enables organizations to:
– Accelerate innovation with faster provisioning and automation.
– Reduce operational costs through efficiency and right-sizing.
– Strengthen resilience with proactive diagnostics and secure configurations.
– Deliver consistent experiences across environments—from core to edge.
As businesses continue to navigate digital transformation, VCF 9.0 provides the foundation to build, run, and scale modern applications with confidence.
The VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 Showcase: Powering the Modern Private Cloud was presented by VMware in association with Techstrong and Tech Field Day. The videos will be posted to the Tech Field Day YouTube channel and on the website. You can learn more about VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 on the VMware website.
